you're gonna hate me, but I can't find the answer to this

[Fingers]

Okay, I'm sorry if some of you feel that this question is stupid or has been answered before, but I am new to the forums and I have not seen the answer for this yet. Plus I can't find a forum that is better suited for answering this question
So here goes nothing.
Is it possible to plug a cable modem directly into a hub/switch and have it distribute the connection to all the computers hooked up to that hub/switch.
Sorry if you think it's redundent, but give a newbie a break, I believe that the true spirit of these forums is to help out your fellow man.

 

[Stallion]

Thats what we have done. It's a program that is called winproxy and it comes with w98SE. All you need is two nic cards in your "host" pc. You will go from your modem to one of the host nics then from the other nic to the switch(that's what we use0 then everyone else plugs into the switch.

You can find more out about it at..http://www.annoyances.org/win98/features/ics.html

 

[jmcoreymv]

Ok, if you do it that way, youll need to purchase more then one ip from your ISP and that cost $$$/month. Or you can buy a cheap router, which will let you share an ip, like the Netgear RT311. Or you can put 2 NICS in 1 machine and run a nat based software or proxy software on it to allow other machines to share the 1 ip. Overall, I recommend the hardware router the most, but if I was rich Id go for the extra ips, especially if your going to be online playing multiplayer games. Some games dont like to have two identical ips logged into the same game at the same time, but most dont mind it. I know UT works with 1 ip.

 

[Fingers]

thanks a lot for the help you guys, I understand the two nic's in one machine but I wanted the flexibilaty to not have to keep one computer going 24/7, and have the connection strait into the network. So let me get this strait
cable modem-------> router------> computers
is that right
and if it is right you say the netgear RT311 is a very good router to have, does this one act like a hub or a switch and can get multiple computers hooked up (3 or more) and if not can I plug in the router to a switch and have the connection shared among the computers on the switch. If that is the case can you recomend a particular switch to use. Thank you so much you guys for having the patience to help out a newbie to networks and broadband.

 

[jmcoreymv]

With the RT311 u need to plug a hub or switch into it, however you could buy the RT314 which is exactly the same as the 311 but with a 4 port 10/100 switch built in. I think i saw it for 130. So then it would be
Cable --> Rt314 --> Computers. And if u need more then 4 comps hooked up u can uplink another switch or hub to it, and hook up to 253 comps.

 

[Soldierman2]

You might want to look at the SMC7004BR as well. It has a built in print server and will also do dail up connections with an external modem.

I got mine about a week or two ago when it was in the Hot deals.

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/reviews/smc_7004br.asp

 

[jsm]

Not to make this thread too large, but Hawking makes a pretty good DSL router.

http://www.hawkingtech.com/products/pn9225.htm

I believe it lets you share with up to 253 hosts, or something like that.